Apologies for my absence – AGAIN!!!!!! (How many times have I said this over the last few years? Shameful really).

Once more I’ve been busy; Incredibly so 😉

But rather than go through a long list of everything that’s held my attention and caused me to neglect my blogging duties so badly for months on end, I think It’s possibly best to publish a series of mini-posts containing the edited highlights of life at Bully Bus HQ over the past few months………. In no particular order.

I’ll start with VW shows, shall I?

I wanted to cry a little bit inside when I saw this 😉

First up: Volkspower V, held at the rugby ground in Redcar.

What can I say about this show that I haven’t already said? I love it! It’s one of the few dates in the annual show calendar where I can honestly put my hand on my heart and say I can’t wait for it to come round.

This year it was bigger than ever, celebrating it’s fifth birthday and looking quite the grown-up. Lots of air-cooled vehicles in attendance, brilliant entertainment, fabulous crowd of people and wall to wall sunshine; A really busy weekend in a glorious seaside setting.

A nice Scottish man who turned up once or twice for a chat 🙂

A Subaru Sambar – Very, very wrong on all levels but entertaining to see the look on people’s faces if they’ve not seen one before 😉

Excuse me whilst I just drool quietly for a few moments……..

One of Sunday’s show ‘n’ shine attendees – gob smackingly awesome!

Another thumbs up for the fish hats!

Awwwwwwhhh! Look at the little trailer!

Lower than your Granpappie’s nuts!

OK – Just one more little bit of drool and I’m done 😉

A marvellous weekend – Even when we had to call the Green Flag out to get us started after breaking down at the petrol forecourt on the way there!!!!! Now that’s a story in itself; Best saved for a later date……..

We didn’t break down on the way home which is all that matters really – And just as well, as a week or so later we headed off to Dub Odyssey, at Hooton Lodge, Rotherham.

Another show that’s grown hugely over the last few years. It used to be held at the Worksop Rugby Ground where we’d all squeeze in like sardines round the edge of the field; These days there’s a bit more legroom 😉

Plenty of vehicles to look at, lovely people (although not quite a full house as there were a few rogues in attendance around the campsite who didn’t necessarily show full consideration to their neighbours), a good scattering of folks from my VW club – Leeds Volkswagen Collective and slightly more challenging weather throughout the weekend.

An award winning bus from the LVC was in attendance 😉

Yay! Another Bully Bus – Look closely and you can see one of them standing guard at the rear.

Apparently the view was lovely from up there 😉

A fellow LVC member’s rather gorgeous bus – We lost track of how many times Daz walked round the show – It was exhausting just to watch!

No break-downs to report from Odyssey – But we were ready with a rubber mallet just in case we needed to tap the starter motor 😉 A rubber mallet, that coincidently, and on reflection, I should probably hit myself over the head with for making a poor choice as regards the show we attended next………….

Leeds VW Festival, Harewood. Or as I like to call it, ‘The Doorstep Challenge’.

I don’t know why I go there to be honest; I’ve seldom enjoyed it. I think it must be some kind of loyalty thing coupled with the fact that it’s only six miles away from home………………. not really good enough reasons to hand over my hard-earned cash for a truly lacklustre experience 😦

I’d love to say that there was something fresh and exciting to see there this year – But there just wasn’t; I’d love to say that that’s just my opinion – But everyone I spoke to was saying exactly the same thing 😦 It’s sad to say but it was the same old vehicles to look at, a trade area that resembled a rather large car boot sale, Mad Max scene re-enactments on one of the camp sites and, seemingly, a lot of cashing in on the organisers part. I paid for a pitch measuring 5 metres wide by 10 metres deep and ended up having to shoe-horn the tent and two vehicles into a 5m x 7m space – 15 square metres short! And bearing in mind we’ve usually taken three vehicles there…………

I’d post lots of piccies if I’d bothered to take more than a few; I didn’t……… so here’s the highlight of the weekend for me:

A dog wearing beer goggles – Maybe I should have borrowed them for a while for a better view of a lacklustre show 😉

On an equal par with Volkspower it’s a date I wouldn’t want to miss on the annual calendar. It’s everything that’s right about VW shows; Just an all-round awesome weekend! Non-stop laughter surrounded by some of the loveliest people on the planet. Chilled, relaxed, family orientated – everything you need to restore your faith in the world 😉

It was Mr Other Half’s first time in attendance this year; He’s making plans for next year already………..

……..Plans for what dress he’s going to wear for the drag race!

Mr Other Half loved it so much that he bought the t-shirt!

The annual show ‘n’ shine consists of three vehicles – Not the biggest show in the world; But arguably the BEST!

The VW show season has officially started with Campermart last weekend! Bit early in the year for me to be bothering, and to be fair I don’t know of a single soul that actually went, but I’m sure it was very lovely for those who did attend 🙂 Fingers crossed that it wasn’t a case of more traders than customers at any rate!

Today I received flyers for my absolute fave show – Volkspower at Redcar. If you haven’t been before – WHY NOT ?????? You can’t possibly imagine what you’re missing. Time to get your diaries out and pencil in the date, set up a little savings tin for petrol money, the bar and some fish and chips and start polishing your dancing shoes for the cracking entertainment on offer – I defy anyone to tell me that there’s better at ANY other show in the UK!

Paul and Mandy, the organisers, work so incredibly hard to bring us an outstanding weekend – And it’s northern and fairly local(ish) which is also an added bonus. Even if it was at the other end of the country I would make the effort to attend though; I’ve been there since day 1 and will forever sing it’s praises 🙂

Volkspower – Be There or Be Fed Up You Missed It!

Ooooooh! And did I mention that it’s by the sea and quite a good surf spot too? Just a five minute walk to the beach with your wetsuit or a quick drive along the coast road to the local Saltburn scene. How cool is that?

I’m off to start shining my dancing shoes NOW! It’s time to come out and PLAY!